Customer Readiness webpage now available on Energy Storage Device Project; market rule changes filed with FERC

ISO New England, joined by the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL), has submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) revisions to Market Rule 1 to codify a new design that enables batteries and other emerging storage technologies to more fully participate in the New England wholesale electricity markets. The revisions allow emerging storage technologies to be dispatched in the Real-Time Energy Market in a manner that more fully recognizes their ability to transition continuously and rapidly between a charging state and a discharging state and provides a means for their simultaneous participation in the energy, reserves, and regulation markets. The ISO and NEPOOL filed the changes on October 10 and have requested FERC respond by December 10 so that the changes can become effective on April 1, 2019.

Toward meeting Order 841 requirements

In early 2016, in response to growing interest in storage participation, the ISO began working to build a platform that would enable batteries and other similar technologies to participate more fully in the wholesale markets. When the Commission issued Order No. 841 in early 2018, the ISO had already completed the internal design work on the new storage design, and the process of vetting those revisions with NEPOOL was already scheduled.

The new storage design brings the region a long way toward compliance with Order No. 841. The new storage revisions, if approved, will become effective eight months before the effective date contemplated in Order No. 841.

The ISO is working on the remaining elements required for full compliance with Order No. 841 and will file those separately, subsequent to completion of the stakeholder review process, no later than the December 3, 2018 compliance deadline.

Customer readiness

Plans for implementing the new rules are well underway. Market participants can view Energy Storage Device (ESD) Project Customer Readiness Page to the learn more about actions they’ll need to take over the next few months and changes to existing systems or procedures related to this project.

Read more about how Battery storage is “charging” ahead in New England.